I thought this was an interesting read (and diversion during the slow offseason.) FO takes a look at who they considered to get the most value out of what they spent against the cap. The Pats ended up ranking 6th; the Giants were at the top of the list. I was kind of surprised to see the Jets slightly above average while the Steelers were slightly below average.

Just wanted to add that the typical method of rolling over cap space from one year to the next that Football Outsiders refers to in that article is to have a player sign an incentive to his contract before the end of the season. If the incentive is missed, then the cap space can be moved in to the next year. I seem to recall the Pats doing this with Heath Evans late in the 2007 season to bring their cap room all the way down to zero.

Interesting, yes, but his conclusions are a bit out of whack if he lauds Tampa for rolling over all that cap as they lost their HC and GM while in the process of never finding a QB...and notes how well SF has positioned itself future cap wise if the newest regime doesn't succeed in the W-L column any better than their predecessors did...let alone if there isn't any more cap to be had after 2009...

Forbes has a stat I really like - player payroll cost per team win. We consistently ace that one. Wins are the only efficiency rating that count.

One more thing to remember - unrolled over cap is never truly lost, just deposited in the owners pocket. Some teams have done that because their revenue stream doesn't otherwise allow for cash over cap signings inspite of excess cap space. So you pocket or accumulate cap some years and spend it on bonuses the next.